Portal:Byzantine Empire/Selected biography
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Manuel I Komnenos, or Comnenus (Greek: Μανουήλ Α' Κομνηνός, Manouēl I Komnēnos, November 28, 1118 – September 24, 1180) was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. Eager to restore his empire to its past glories as the superpower of the Mediterranean world, Manuel pursued an energetic and ambitious foreign policy. In the process he made alliances with the Pope and the resurgent west, invaded Italy, successfully handled the passage of the dangerous Second Crusade through his empire, and established a Byzantine protectorate over the Crusader kingdoms of Outremer. Facing Muslim advances in the Holy Land, he made common cause with the Kingdom of Jerusalem and participated in a combined invasion of Fatimid Egypt. Manuel reshaped the political maps of the Balkans and the east Mediterranean, placing the kingdoms of Hungary and Outremer under Byzantine hegemony and campaigning aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in the east. However, towards the end of his reign Manuel's achievements in the east were compromised by a serious defeat at Myriokephalon, which in large part resulted from his arrogance in attacking a well-defended Seljuk position.
Alexios I Komnenos or Alexius I Comnenus (Greek: Αλέξιος Α' Κομνηνός, Alexios I Komnēnos; Latin: ALEXIVS I COMNENVS; 1048 – August 15, 1118), Byzantine emperor (1081–1118), was the son of John Komnenos and Anna Dalassena and the nephew of Isaac I Komnenos (emperor 1057–1059). The military, financial and territorial recovery of the Byzantine Empire known as Komnenian restoration began in his reign.
Alexios' father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was accordingly succeeded by four emperors of other families between 1059 and 1081. Under one of these emperors, Romanos IV Diogenes (1067–1071), he served with distinction against the Seljuk Turks. Under Michael VII Doukas Parapinakes (1071–1078) and Nikephoros III Botaneiates (1078–1081) he was also employed, along with his elder brother Isaac, against rebels in Asia Minor, Thrace and in Epirus.
Constantine XI Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος ΙΑ' Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, Kōnstantinos XI Dragasēs Palaiologos, Serbian: Константин XI Палеолог Драгаш), (February 8, 1405– May 29, 1453) was the last reigning Byzantine Emperor, from 1448 to his death.
Constantine was born in Constantinople as the eighth of ten children of Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragaš of Kumanovo. He spent most of his childhood in Constantinople under the supervision of his parents. During the absence of his older brother in Italy, Constantine was regent in Constantinople from 1437-1440.
Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος, Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.
His father Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185), married bef. 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195), was a son of Theodora Komnene (b. January 5, 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Eirene Doukaina, by her marriage c. 1120 to Konstantinos Angelos, Admiral of Sicily (c. 1085 – aft. July 1166), son of one Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.
George of Trebizond (1395 – 1486), Greek philosopher and scholar, one of the pioneers of the Renaissance, was born on the island of Crete, and derived his surname Trapezuntius from the fact that his ancestors were from Trebizond.
At what period he came to Italy is not certain; according to some accounts he was summoned to Venice about 1430 to act as amanuensis to Francesco Barbaro, who appears to have already made his acquaintance; according to others he did not visit Italy till the time of the Council of Florence (1438-1439).
He learned Latin from Vittorino da Feltre, and made such rapid progress that in three years he was able to teach Latin literature and rhetoric. His reputation as a teacher and a translator of Aristotle was very great, and he was selected as secretary by Pope Nicholas V, an ardent Aristotelian. The needless bitterness of his attacks upon Plato (in the Comparatio Aristotelis et Platonis), which drew forth a powerful response from Johannes Bessarion, and the manifestly hurried and inaccurate character of his translations of Plato, Aristotle and other classical authors, combined to ruin his fame as a scholar, and to endanger his position as a teacher of philosophy. (Pope Pius II was among the critics of George's translations.) The indignation against George on account of his first-named work was so great that he would probably have been compelled to leave Italy had not Alfonso V of Aragon given him protection at the court of Naples.
Maria Despina Palaiologina was an illegitimate daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (ruled 1258-1282). She was betrothed by her father to the Mongol ruler Hulagu, the destroyer of the caliphate of Baghdad, as part of an alliance between the Byzantines and the Mongols.
Maria left Constantinople in 1265, escorted by the abbot of Pantokrator monastery, Theodosius de Villehaurdoin. In Kaiseri they got the news that Hulagu was dead, so that Maria got married with the son of the Khan, Abagha. She resided in Persia at the Il-Khan court of Abagha for a period of 15 years, until her husband was poisoned by her brother Achmed. She led a pious life and was quite influential on the politics and the religious outlooks of the Mongols, who were mostly already Nestorian Christians. They had previously looked to Doquz Khatun, Hulagu's wife, as a religious leader. After the death of Doquz, this sentiment turned to Maria, who was called "Despina Khatun".
Theoktistos Vriennion (Greek: Θεόκτιστος), (d. November 20, 855), was a Logothetes, a powerful Byzantine official, responsible for the diplomatic relations of the Empire and a promoter of major educational programs within the Empire. He had proved time and again to be a very competent and very faithful servant to the Empire. He served Michael II, Theophilos' father, and Theophilus, who had appointed him to the regency council for his son Michael III and Empress Theodora. After the death of Theophilus (820-842), a regency was set up consisting of Theoktistos, Empress Theodora, and the Empress' brothers, Bardas and Petronas.
Theoktistos Vriennion also was the uncle of Cyril and Methodius. In 843 he invited Cyril and Methodius in Constantinople to help with their studies and arrange the placement of Methodius as a commander of a Slavic administrative region.
Flavius Belisarius (Greek: Βελισάριος) (505(?) – 565) was one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire and one of the most acclaimed generals in history. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian I's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Western Roman Empire, which had been lost just under a century previously.
Although comparatively less well-known than other famed military leaders such as Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great or Napoleon Bonaparte, his skills and accomplishments were matched by very few other military commanders in history.
One of the defining features of Belisarius' career was his operating under conditions of little or no support from his emperor Justinian and Byzantium, and nonetheless succeeding through military genius. He is among a select group of men considered to be the "Last of the Romans".
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